Peace
by AnkouRavien
Summary: The journey ended! El was restored, bad guys were gone, and everyone can live happily! But... why did they still fear of something?


Hey, do you remember? There was an angel in Elrios! He was there, following a certain group for a long time. They had been together, but did they even remember him? Ah, too bad, they didn't even notice he was there. Maybe he merely existed as a God's agent with the duty to restore the El.

A certain red haired boy saved him. If only the boy realized how much he helped the angel, maybe he would appreciate the angel more. Maybe… maybe the angel would stay as the holy being we all know. He would be a being superior to humans with all his holy powers.

What? Oh, no, no, you get it wrong. Everything won't work smoothly. This holy angel had fallen into despair. The first time he saw the group, he thought the world was a beautiful and peaceful place. But humans weren't as nice as he thought. They can be cruel; they can kill things they didn't recognize, simply because they didn't know what it would do to them. In fact, it might do nothing at all. And of course, humans could kill another humans.

He was afraid, he was scared of everything. With the demons invading the world, it scared him even more. He asked his Goddess for help, he needed Her guide, but… where was She? She didn't answer him. Maybe he got involved into something he shouldn't have? Maybe if he stayed away from the bad things, the Goddess will answer him.

Even though he wasn't human, he felt pain on his heart. Did he even have a heart in the first place? He wouldn't know. He had so many questions, but none of them had answers. Will he even hear something from his Goddess anymore? Did She… still care for him?

Yes, of course! He had a hope his Goddess will help him! He still followed the group, even though it felt like he didn't exist there. The group had unique people now. A human, an elf, a half-Nasod, and the Queen of Nasods. But… why did they not remember the angel? Maybe an angel wasn't that worth to be recognized?

He was face to face with Dark El. He was hoping the Goddess would help him to take out all of it, but where was it? Why did it not get destroyed? The real question was… why did he manage to consume it easily? Maybe… just maybe… he didn't have to care about his duty as God's agent anymore. At least he got his freedom to do whatever he wanted.

But hey, the El was restored, thanks to the red haired boy sacrifice! The demons and bad guys are gone too! The group did a great job, even though the angel… was not really helping that part.

* * *

"This doesn't seem right."

An elf from the group was sitting on a tree branch. The sun shone bright like usual. The tree was a good place to hide from it and enjoyed the cool wind instead. Her home, Eldimir, was saved, the elves can continue to live normally. It had been a hundred years since El was restored. Her human comrades already passed away. Sometimes she missed when the group teased her to marry the half-Nasod, but she knew it won't go back.

And here she were, wishing for everything to go back. She jumped down, brought her bow in case something bad happened, and went to a certain place in Elrios. It was a place where she first met the Queen of Nasods. She used to destroy her own kind, but after the El got restored, the Nasods went back. Unlike the previous one where Nasod and human engaged in a war, this time they lived in harmony.

"Ah, Rena, long time no see."

The Queen of Nasods greeted Rena, the green haired elf who was once her comrade. Rena greeted her back with a smile. The Queen of Nasods, Eve, was still with her silver hair and the same hairstyle. She asked the elf why she visited her after a long time. She expected something like she missed her, but she got something else.

"Eve, can you build a time machine like how Add made one?"

Eve was surprised with the question. Out of all people, she did not expect Rena to say such things. She shook her head, but it wasn't because she couldn't create one. "Add should be the last person to alter the time. What's on your mind?"

"Is this the peace we're looking for?" Rena asked with serious look. She didn't hesitate with she asked that, she noticed something was fishy since the El was restored. "Everything was just gone, as if they never existed! They can't disappear all of a sudden!"

Eve nodded, but she didn't give any reply. She got what Rena was saying; the problematic people were gone along with El's restoration. It's questionable in so many ways.

Rena giggled and smiled wryly at Eve. "I'll find another way. See you later," she waved her hand for a goodbye and left quickly.

"Ah, Rena! Do you even have money?!"

After she got money from Eve, she recalled everything she did when the El was unstable. She met her first two comrades in Ruben, and then along with their journey, they got more people. Everything seemed fine, but where would be the moment something went suspicious?

Obviously… Elrianode.

Rena couldn't get there in a day, but she knew her destination. When she arrived, she looked around the city first. The city was in a mess, but now it looked beautiful and—surprisingly—lively. She would love to waste time to look around for more and pay a visit to the El masters and priestesses, but she knew she had to go to a certain place: Forgotten Elrian Sanctum.

She visited the cavern once. People from Elrianode said it was a good place to surpass their past selves. Since she was kind of in need to surpass her past self, she believed she could find something inside. Last time she was here, she heard voices and met her other self. But this time, she didn't hear anything. Everything was too silent, only her footsteps filled the cavern.

As she walked deeper, the air became cold. Unlike the bright and beautiful cavern she had visited before, this time it was dark and chaotic. The cavern looked like it was destroyed instantly, broken glass and stone pieces were scattered on the ground. She already had a bad vibe about this, but she kept going until she reached the dead end.

There was someone—no, a living being looked like a person—who was standing in the middle. It appeared to be male with long silver hair that was tied into a ponytail. There was a hole on his chest and his eyes were looking blankly at the elf.

Rena gulped and stared at him back. She was a bit afraid of what she saw, but she had a nostalgic feeling. She wanted to run away, but she didn't. Her guts were telling her that he wasn't dangerous. But judging by his looks, he looked like he would hurt everything he saw. Even so, she decided to approach him and look at him closer. Her head started hurting as it tried to recall a memory, but she didn't remember anything.

"Do you wish for death?" he asked with monotone voice and looked at her without emotion.

"What should I call you?" Rena asked a completely different question. There was an awkward silence, but the thing didn't ask much more and answered "Herrscher" as a name. On closer look, Rena noticed the thing was missing some parts of his body, but he still moved normally.

Instead of running away, she smiled and grabbed his hand. "So what are you doing alone in here? Come out with me and tell me a story!"

Herrscher was so confused with Rena's decision, but he followed her. As for Rena, she actually had no idea what she was doing. But she was an elf. If she was a human, she would try to kill Herrscher, simply because she didn't know what he was. She thought she would get more information of what actually happened. She brought him out of the cavern and walked around in town once again.

For some obvious reason, the townspeople were afraid of him. Rena just shrugged it off and said that he was a friend, but the people were scolding her. They whispered the same thing to her.

"Stay away from him."

Rena blinked her eyes several times in confusion, but she laughed at it. She bought two snacks made from strange vegetables in Elrianode and gave one to Herrscher. "They said it's good! You should try it!" she shouted before she ate it. The snack was over cooked and looked weird, but it was actually delicious. Rena's cheeks turned red from the heat, but she smiled.

On the other side, Herrscher just ate it and gave no response.

Next, they went to an accessory shop. It's been a while since she bought one, so she wanted to see something new. Herrscher didn't bother to look, he just waited on the distance like any man would do in a mall. A certain hair ornament caught her interest. It was gold and green, the color reminded her of the Wind Master. She put it on her head and looked at the shopkeeper. "Does it fit me?"

The shopkeeper nodded, but then he stared at her and whispered. "Stay away from him! What are you doing?"

"Why is that? Is he a bad guy?" she asked casually as she took out her wallet and counted her money to pay for the accessory.

"He's the worst. He's better when he stays in the cavern alone."

Rena gave the shopkeeper the money. "I'll be fine. In fact, I can't leave him alone," she smiled. She turned around to approach the thing that townspeople want her to stay away from. "What do you think, Herrscher? Do I look good?"

"It doesn't matter," Herrscher answered quickly. He wouldn't care about someone he just met anyway. Except… maybe they had met before? He sighed and stared at the elf. "People literally told you to stay away. Why are you still here?"

"It might sound weird, but…" Rena twirled her hair with a sad smile and looked at him. "Have we… meet before? I feel like I can trust you, even if we just met."

"Does it matter? What are you going to do if we have?" he asked back. At this point, Rena knew she can't really discuss anything with him. She didn't get any answer for him, so he turned around and walked away from her.

"Hey, wait! Where are you going?!" Rena shouted and followed him from the back.

"To the sanctum," he replied shortly and kept walking away from the town.

She tilted her head in confusion. She wasn't really sure if she met him before, but why did she feel like he lost him for the second time? She sighed heavily and walked to get a drink to clear her mind. A cool drink would be good, but all she got was a really hot tea. It was good, but instead of clearing her mind, she got completely distracted with the heat.

"You should stay away from him."

Ever since she brought Herrscher to the town, she got that words a lot. She stopped drinking, paid for the drink, and asked the people why she should stay away from him.

"He only bring chaos to everyone. You're lucky he didn't drag you with him."

"Long ago, the worlds were not in peace. Demon invasions and Henir Orders were everywhere. But then, he came to drag everyone with him. They weren't killed, they were dragged to his realm. The problems were gone, but he was still there. People were reported getting killed, but was that really it?"

"You said I was lucky? How many people were lucky?" Rena asked with curiosity and narrowed her eyes. Apparently she was the first one, and of course, that sounded too suspicious to her. She wasn't lucky; Herrscher chose to not kill her. She ignored what the townspeople said and went back to the cavern.

This time, the cavern was different. Instead of a complete silence, there were memories of her from her group. There was an image of them in a Ruben, except… there was one taller person with them. He looked both happy and confused, but he followed them. As Rena kept going, the other images were shown. This time they were in Elder. They were getting their resolve to be stronger, but… this fourth person was in pain. It looked like he was in need of help, but nobody helped him. Not even the group.

Next was Feita. They met so many monsters corrupted with Dark El. They managed to kill them, but the fourth person didn't. He got associated with the Dark El instead, and finally, he started consuming it unconsciously. The last notable image was Elrianode. They didn't manage to save their friend from sacrificing himself to the El, but the person that was in pain stopped moving. Slowly, everything around him was destroyed and shattered into thin air.

Herrscher was standing on the same spot like before. It seemed that he had nothing to do at the moment, but he didn't want to do anything at the same time. He noticed Rena came back and faced her. "Why are you here?"

"Herrscher—no… Ain, it's been a long time," Rena smiled sadly at him. She walked closer and hugged him tightly. "I'm sorry… for not remembering you. You must be in pain, you endured everything alone. I kept you waiting for this."

It felt so weird to her. How come she didn't remember him at all, while he was with them all the time in their journey? What happened? And why did nobody else notice he was there? They had, twelve people that could possibly notice him, but none of them did.

Rena broke the hug, held Ain's hands, and looked at his face. Ain's face didn't change, it was still the same straight face she met earlier, but… tears came out from his eyes. "I'm a really bad friend," she smiled slightly and wiped Ain's tears with her finger.

He was a bit surprised by it and wiped his own tears. It was the first time he cried. Why did water come out from his eyes all of a sudden? He was so confused with it, but he didn't feel like asking a question. "It doesn't matter," he said, even though he was wondering why the water kept coming out.

The elf giggled and sat beside him. The place that was supposed to be cold and chaotic felt warm with her around. "I'm staying with you this time. Although… I probably go out to get foods," she said as she gestured Ain to sit beside her. She closed her eyes and rested her head on his shoulder.

"You'll leave me when the time comes," Ain replied, still with no expression.

Rena laughed and looked at him. "I heard about you. Drag everyone else with you when I'm gone! I don't want you to be alone anymore, but I can't do that."

* * *

Yes, yes! That was the angel! He had fallen into despair and… became that thing. Even though the world seemed peaceful, people's hearts were filled with fear. In time, the elf will die from aging. Ah, it's sad. Right after the angel found someone that noticed, he knew she would leave eventually.

Ah, the worlds? Elrios, even Eldimir? They did not have peace. Everyone fell into the angel's realm of Void. They all ended in nothingness with endless chaos.

* * *

_Thanks for reading!_


End file.
